A Liberal’s Perspective: Evergreen College And The Fascism Of The Illiberal Left | HuffPost

At Evergreen State College in Washington, the dangerous authoritarian streak of college-aged, left-wing extremists is being exposed in disturbing detail. In recent weeks, social justice activists demanded that white students refrain from attending class or being present on campus on a predetermined day, in order to appropriately, from their perspective, observe the traditional “Day of Absence.” Evolutionary Biology Professor Bret Weinstein wrote an email objecting to this event, in part, saying that to force every white member of campus to leave would be “an act of oppression in and of itself,” Weeks later, when this email became public, it did not take long for a mob to assemble.

For his objection to “A Day Without White People,” Weinstein was speciously accused of being a racist. Additionally, a group of students cornered other white faculty and proceeded to viciously berate them. Footage of these confrontations are available online, bringing the incident to public attention and landing Weinstein in a media firestorm.

According to Weinstein, the college administration has done little to protect him and give him a platform to defend himself from utterly unfounded allegations of racism and calls for his ouster from the classroom. Police barely intervened when students organized into angry mobs and screamed insults and vulgarities at administrators, completely disregarding the notion that faculty and administration have any authority over students, who can apparently openly disrespect them with impunity.

The irony in all of this is that Weinstein himself is a liberal, having supported Bernie Sanders for president. There is no evidence that he is a racist and he has done nothing to these students but object to their authoritarian mentality and attempt to have an open dialogue. So why are these left-wing extremists attacking one of their own liberal comrades? The answer is simple: they are not liberals. They are illiberal, left-wing fascists.

These so called “activists” are not interested in dialogue — one of them said exactly that in a video of their confrontation. They are only interested in their political agenda being enacted at all costs, without any negotiation with dissenters. To me, that mentality is inherently illiberal and undemocratic. It is close enough to fascism to warrant use of the label “fascist” at this point.

We need a more functional word for these individuals. Up until now, they are usually ironically referred to as “social justice warriors” (SJW). That term intends to emphasize their self-serving thirst to signal personal virtue via “activism” in support of marginalized groups.

Again, I know that left-wing fascism is somewhat of an oxymoron. I’m trying to make a broader point about what we call the social justice mob when it arises and why we call them that. As a label, “social justice warrior” just doesn’t cut it. It has too much of a positive connotation and can be embraced all too easily as the cool, rebellious thing to be.

The majority of Americans who utterly reject the ridiculous behavior of this growing group must not let the extremists control the narrative by characterizing their behavior as being politically rebellious or “on the right side of history.” Instead, this behavior must be portrayed as it truly is, as a shameful and pedestrian surrender to authoritarian political doctrine and mob mentality.

Considering this, “fascist” works fairly well as a label for members of the social justice mob. It drives home their authoritarian, ideologically-possessed mindset and tactics which can only be described as systematic brainwashing followed by witch hunts for any who would even think to diverge from the social justice orthodoxy.

And for those who think I’m going a step too far and overreacting, watch the videos from Evergreen State, as well as the endless additional footage of ‘social justice warrior’ mobs and “protests” of college speakers available on YouTube. Witness the actions of these people and how no one steps up to correct them.

Watch as they hospitalize a female professor at Middlebury College and receive minimal consequences. Watch as they set University of California, Berkeley ablaze because of the presence of a dissenting political voice.

Now, you can watch as they physically and verbally intimidate faculty and students at their own institution, terrorizing them for the heinous crime of being present while white.

Additionally, I implore you to imagine what the university and police response would have been if conservative students had made similar demands in a similar manner. In this case, the students would have been ordered to disperse. They would have been disciplined or even arrested for not complying with school policy. This double standard starkly displays the danger of a far-left ideological mob that is exempt from otherwise enforced social and legal consequences.

To be frank, if this ordeal does not boil your blood and make you want to fight the regressive left and campus extremism, then you are either ideologically possessed or intellectually blind. For the rest of us, there is clearly fight on our hands for the heart of Western civilization which calls on all of us to speak up.

These fascists must be disempowered via the very right they fear most, freedom of speech, which manifests itself in open dialogue leading to the exposure of their ideas as inferior to the core values that make Western civilization the pinnacle of humanity.

Additionally, college administrators and police must hold students accountable for their actions, as they would with any other group. They must not do what Evergreen College administrators have done and be intimidated by a small, but extremely vocal, group of students who have terrorized their own campus community in an ideological conquest — not for truth, but for confirmation of a dogmatic narrative.

As with Professor Weinstein, I am no conservative. I am the former president of the College Democrats of Maryland. However, this insanity is unrepresentative of true liberalism. Liberals who don’t call out these illiberal fascists are complicit in their growing influence and impunity. We real liberals must wake up, we must stand up, and we must act.